Category: Science investigations

Recently I have been participating in quite a few competitions. One of these competitions is the National Junior Solar Sprint Competition (NJSSC). In this competition, groups of 3 students have to build a model car which is entirely powered using solar power. My co-writer, Jackson, participated in this competition with me and we joined as a group of 2. On the night before the actual competition, we were busy fine tuning the car and we were talking about physics at the same time. More specifically, we were talking about higher dimensions and the multiverse theory. At one point in our discussion, I suggested that the magical world of Harry potter could exist should higher dimensions and multiple universes exist. After some discussion we came up with our very own theory/hypothesis and I shall try to explain our hypothesis in this blog post. Before I explain our hypothesis, I will have to explain a few things. Firstly, what is the fourth dimension. Jackson has referred to me a series of videos which explain each dimension from 0 dimensions up to 10 dimensions. The videos can be found at the following channel on YouTube: 10thdim This video is explaining the fourth dimension:

Essentially the fourth dimension is time (or duration rather). We experience it. In the Lorentz transformations (which I will explain in a later blog post) time is the fourth dimension and is represented simply as the character t. Beings in the fourth dimension are able to experience every instant at once. From the start of the universe, to its destruction, all at once.

Secondly, what is the fifth dimension.

The fifth dimension is essentially the many worlds interpretation of the multiverse theory. It is all the possibilities of the universe. All the timelines (4-D timelines) together.

Thirdly, what is the sixth dimension.

As mentioned earlier, the fifth dimension is all the lines together, forming a plane of all the infinite possibilities of the universe. The sixth dimension is the dimension which allows you to jump from timeline to timeline. Similarly, the third dimension allows you to jump from 1 point in a 2-D plane to another point in that same 2-D plane. In this case, the sixth dimension allows you to jump from 1 point in a 5-D plane to another point in that same 5-D plane.

Fourthly, what is the seventh dimension.

This is where it starts to get difficult. The video shows various models of the seventh dimension and how our universe could exist amongst the other versions/individual universes. This part is also key in my hypothesis as it allows us access to a completely different universe as you will read in the final section of the explanation.

Next, what is the multiverse theory. This video is from minute physics. Try to see the link between the many worlds interpretation of the multiverse theory and the fifth dimension.

Essentially, the multiverse theory proposes that there is more than 1 universe. And the many worlds interpretation states that all the possible outcomes actually occur. This is similar to our fifth dimension as all the infinite possibilities occur. As you can see the link between all the dimensions and the multiverse theory. Each 4-D line is 1 separate version of the universe.

Lastly, I have to explain my hypothesis about these universes in the seventh dimension. During the actual NJSSC, I discussed this with my physics teacher who was in charge of me and Jackson during the competition, Mr Tan Teck Nam. I was asking him if the universe is entirely based upon chance due to the fact that quantum physics, which is the most fundamental form of physics, is based upon chance. After the discussion on quantum physics, I questioned classical physics. I asked why does the universe seem to be based on math. Many laws and theories in classical physics are heavily based on math. Such an example would be Newton’s Second Law of Motion, F=ma. Why does force always equal to the product of mass and acceleration and not something else? Why is the value of force predictable? Why does the universe act in such a predictable manner? The answer Mr Tan gave me was that when the universe was created, all the laws and theories and constants were already set. And this also happens in other universes, just that it happens with a different set of laws and constants. Similarly, my hypothesis is that other universes also act in a similar manner, producing different laws and constants.

Now on to the actual theory or more scientifically accurate, the hypothesis.

In our hypothesis, there are humans from the future who develop technologies to enter the seventh dimension thus allowing them to enter different universes and the different 5-D planes within them thus allowing access to all 4-D possibilities of the universe. As they are able to enter the seventh dimension, they can choose which universe to enter. They will choose the appropriate universe and enter it. They also have access to virtually unlimited energy as they can sap energy from the almost unlimited number of universes. So when these people went into other versions of the universe, they captured animals and plants from those universes to our universe (explaining the magical creatures) Back in our version of the universe, they travel back in time to the modern era rather than their own time (this explains the setting of modern London etc. ). The wand as seen in the books and movies is a device which enables cross dimensional interaction. These humans then left all these wands and stuff in the human world for unknown reasons. Then a few people came along and learnt how to use these magical items and creatures to their advantage. However in our theory there was an accident which resulted in the wiping of memory of these first few ‘wizards’ and ‘witches’. After the memory wipe, they forgot all about regular human stuff (explaining the idea of ‘muggles’) and they believed they were wizards. That is what we believe to have happened that resulted in these wizards and witches in the world of Harry Potter. Now I shall explain some other things which may not seem so apparent.

Patronuses and dementors- they are essentially the matter (patronus) and anti-matter (dementors) of another universe. It just so happens that they are animals made up of those two materials and when they come into contact, they will ‘react’ or scientifically speaking annihilate each other releasing energy. Then why does the patronus always win? The wizard that summoned it can keep the portal to its universe/ another universe therefore continuously supplying it with energy and matter. The effect of “dementing” someone is probably due to reactions between the anti-matter and the electrical signals within the brain. The stopping of these signals results in the loss of memories, a common symptom among victims of dementors. Due to the fact that dementors “feed off happiness” it’s also possible that they draw energy from the electrical signals.

Horcruxes- each horcrux contains a portal to the owner’s heart/body part therefore whenever it is destroyed, the owner feels pain. The reason why it can only be destroyed by certain items is that only those items are strong enough to destroy the horcruxes (goblin metal is virtually indestructible, fiend fyre is hot enough to melt the horcrux, mbasilisk fangs contain the venom which possibly contains properties that we do not know of). Why does the horcrux seem to contain the owner’s soul? To create a portal to the owner’s heart, a portal to the sixth or fifth dimension is required. It is possible that within these universes, sentient beings are present thus the “soul” is actually the beings within the alternate universe.

The Deathly Hallows:

The Elder Wand- I believe that the Elder Wand is a wand crafted by another sentient being within a higher dimension (ie. 5-D, 6-D etc. ). This is due to the fact that in higher dimensions, more space becomes available. How is this so? Well here’s an example. When we print chips (computer chips of course. Not the crispy snack) we print them on 2-D surfaces. But recently 3-D chips have been invented and these chips are much much much more powerful. Similarly, a 5-D brain would be more powerful than a 3-D one. This explains why the Elder Wand is much more powerful than regular wands.

The Resurrection Stone- The stone is much like a horcrux. It contains a portal to a period in the past. This allows the dead to be seen. This portal only allows light and sound to pass therefore the dead can only be seen and heard but not touched.

The Invisibility Cloak- It is a sheet which allows light to ‘flow’ around it (or rather bend). Such technologies have been developed and are in the process of further development. This article talks about its recent development and shows how it could possibly be used in the future.

Spells:

I’ll explain a couple of spells (definitely not all. I’d be dead).

Protego- Hands down, one of my favourite spells of all time. My theory is it creates a portal to another universe and allows particles from that universe to flow in. Due to the different constants and laws, the particles are extremely strong, dense etc. therefore creating an extremely strong shield.

Avadakedavra- It has the same principle as Protego, however this occurs within the body, causing disruptions in chemical reactions within the body, causing death. As the particles are from another universe, they are unstable and soon decay, causing the cause of death to always be unknown.

And with that I have come to the end of this blog post. I hope that you have enjoyed reading it and that you would give me your questions or comments. Do note that the above is a hypothesis and is not a confirmed fact whatsoever.

To end it off with a bang, “Bombarda maxima.”

Regards to all those Harry Potter fans out there,

Clyde Lhui 🙂

P.s: Jackson is currently working on a post on Blackbody radiation i.e Quantum physics. Do look forward to that!

Recently I have been playing this game called League of Legends (LoL). I’m pretty sure that loads of guys out there play LoL. So I was checking out some info about the game. So in this game, there are 3 maps or Fields of Justice. The first one is Summoner’s Rift, the second being Twisted Treeline and the third is called Howling Abyss. But wait, I’m not here to tell you about LoL. If so why would I label it under ‘Science’? Ok here comes the interesting part. In the description of Howling Abyss LoL said that at screams could be heard in the wind and those were rumoured to be those of warriors who got pushed into the bottomless abyss. So I was thinking “Since its a bottomless pit, the warriors who fell in the abyss wont hit the ground and die so how long will it take for them to die and if they screamed when they died, how long would the screams take to reach the top?”

Ok so the first part’s really simple: How long would they take to die? Assuming there are no flying creatures that eat them up, they did not cry, sweat, pee or breathe through their mouth and they were regular humans, they would take 3 days to die of dehydration.

So that’s part 1 answered, now for part 2. Here’s where it starts to get difficult. How long would their final scream take to reach the top? firstly we have to find out how far down they would have travelled. So assuming they were falling like a skydiver (horizontally) we can find the projected area or the area which is in contact of the air below them. The average male Body Surface Area ( BSA )is 1.9 m^2 therefore to calculate the projected area, we can take the BSA divided by 2 as only one side of their bodies are in contact with the air. therefore the projected area would be 0.95 m^2. Next we have to find their mass. Assuming they were very fit and they had the most ideal body weight according to the Body Mass Index (BMI) and they were average American males in the United States of America who have an average height of 1.763 m, they would have a mass of around 150 pounds or 68.0389 kg. Now we have all the data we need to calculate the terminal velocity of the warriors or the speed they will be at when they stop accelerating. The formula for terminal velocity is as follows:

Vt= Terminal velocity

m=Mass of falling object

g= Acceleration due to gravity

p(rho)= Density of fluid which the object is travelling through (in this case, air)

A= Projected area

Cd= Drag coefficient

So what do all these mean? well we have been through practically everything except for the drag coefficient. So what is drag coefficient? Drag coefficient is a value which cannot be calculated. It is the value which puts the force generated by drag into account. The drag coefficient of a man is 1.0-1.3. Lets assume that our warriors have a drag coefficient of 1.2, not too skinny yet not too fat. The acceleration due to gravity on Earth is 9.8m/s^2 and the density of air at room temperature (25 degrees Celsius) is 1.1839 kg/m^3 so with everything in SI units we can calculate the terminal velocity of the warriors. The final answer is 54.44492062 m/s assuming all our calculations are right and in SI units. this can be rounded off to 54.4m/s (3 s.f.). The next part that we have to solve is the acceleration period. so from 0m/s to 54.4 m/s how long would it take? Once again assuming that the acceleration due to gravity is around 9.8 m/s^2 as on earth, all we have to do is divide 9.8m/s^2 from 54.4 m/s. The result we arrive at is 5.551020408 s. to find the distance travelled during this time, all we have to do is imagine that all this data is being plotted on a distance time graph and find the area during the acceleration period.

1/2*5.551020408 s*54.4 m/s =150.9877551 m

This can once again be rounded off to 151 m ( 3 s.f.)

Now lets move on to the part where we deal with the duration of the freefall. Assuming that they took EXACTLY 3 days to die of dehydration, they would take 24 h*3= 72 h to die. Now we minus the 5.551020408 s from the 72 h. 72 h = 72 h*60 min = 4320 min =4320 min* 60 s= 259200 s

Therefore we can assume that our warriors remained at terminal velocity for 259194.449 s.

So to find the distance they travelled at terminal velocity, all we have to do is:

259194.449 s* 54.4m/s= 14100178.02 m

So our warriors travelled a total distance of:

14100178.02 m + 151 m = 14100329.02 m

Finally to calculate the time taken for the sound to reach the top, we have to divide the distance travelled by the speed of sound which is Mach 1 or 346.13 m/s at room temperature (25 degrees Celsius).

14100329.02 m / 346.13 m/s = 40737.09018 s

That is how long the sound would take to reach the place where our warriors fell from. Converting it to hours : 11.3159 h

So there’s the answer!

If you have anything else, like a science question of some sort or you found a mistake in my calculations and want me to rectify it, please post it in the comments section or you could send me a message via the contact me form!